Large US enterprise IT gear distributors Avnet and Bell Microproducts have entered into a definitive agreement, whereby the former will acquire the latter for a total of about $594 million. While both companies' boards of directors had approved the deal, Bell's shareholders had yet to vote to approve it as of Monday.

"Given the rising demands of global technology markets, the investment required to deliver leading edge technical support and competitive supply chain networks continues to grow," Bell Founder and CEO Don Bell said in a statement. "Avnet's financial resources and global infrastructure will allow the Bell organization to deliver industry-leading value to our customers and continue our long history of growth and market share gains."

At $7 per share, $252 million constitutes equity value and the rest of the transaction is cash. The two organizations' leaders expect to close the deal within two-four months.

Avnet Chairman and CEO Roy Vallee said in a statement that the deal would expand the scale and scope of data center storage and computing offerings provided by the buyer company, as well as enable it to expand its presence in Latin America. He added that Bell's position in the market complements Avnet's existing strategy and "creates opportunities for cross-selling." The acquisition also enables Avnet to expand into the hard-disk storage space.

Bell's revenue in the first quarter of this year was $795 million, a figure the company expects to grow in the next quarter, according to a Bell news release.